Slussen: an invisible landscape

Federico Acal
2009.03.20- 2009.03.29

Federico Acal works with video installations and has shifted his focus towards the city in the last couple of years. He talks about the city as a landscape rather than architecture or specific buildings. His artworks often deals with peoples’ subjective experience and approach to the city. In Slussen: an invisible landscape Acal lets a number of people make their way and navigate through the space with a camera.

Acal’s interest in Slussen is based in large part on the space it occupies in Stockholm residents’ minds. One aspect is the consensus, at least in the debate in the media, that Slussen is so far deteriorated that tearing it down and building something new is the only possible solution, thus the only one discussed. Slussen becomes a modern ruin, a condemned landscape. Acal’s work is an interesting addition to the debate, not so much for a stance for or against demolition, rather because it highlights the problem from an artistic perspective and puts focus on values that are often overlooked in the debate.

Slussen: an invisible landscape is a dual video installation with a soundtrack made from recordings on site. The exhibition also includes maps of the routes taken by the participants. The work is exploratory and descriptive not only of the space, but also an exploration of the ways in which people interact with the space. Slussen is a place that more than most other public spaces seems different through the eyes of one person to the next. To access all hidden parts of Slussen it takes curiosity and an active interest.

Federico Acal was born 1981 in Cádiz, Spain. He lives and works in Stockholm. In 2004 he graduated from the Polytechnic University of Valencia with a Master degree in Fine Arts. He has also studied at The Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany and at Carnigie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA. His work consists of video and sound installations. It has been shown (among other places) at Strange Screen at the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, Festival Optica at The Gijón International Festival of Video Art in Gijon and Madrid and at VideoAkt International Video Art Show at GlogaurAIR in Berlin, Germany.